On the wrong track

LOCAL resident Richard Hack has questioned council’s decision to seal Dr Pages Road in Kin Kin, which is expected to cost $4.7 million.
The road has been described by council as the “missing link” in the hinterland and when sealed it will provide an alternate route between Tewantin and Kin Kin.
Mr Hack, son of former Noosa banana grower Roger Hack, said while he was sure the sealing of the country road would be welcomed by the Kin Kin community, there were more important infrastructure issues council could have spent the money on.
“We have bridges that have been declared in need of urgent works, while the Munna Point bridge was delayed for many years with the concrete cancer only being addressed now,” he said.
“Council haven’t completed all their planned capital works for the 2014-’15 budget and now they will spend $4.7 million sealing a road into a country town.
“There is a multitude of other places throughout the shire that are more desperately in need of repair.”
Mr Hack said roads such as Beckmans Road, where daily commuters were growing more frustrated with the large amounts of traffic, was one place the money could have been spent.
Mr Hack said while the Kin Kin community might be looking forward to the sealing of the Dr Pages Road, there were many other areas of the shire’s infrastructure that were in need of immediate attention.
“I can understand spending $4.7 million to seal a road into a country town if the planned capital works were finished,” Mr Hack said. “But they’re not.”
Mr Hack also said the approval of the funds to seal Dr Pages Road should have seen Mayor Noel Playford declare a conflict of interest at the special 2015-’16 council budget meeting on 29 June.
“One of the roads off Dr Pages Road is named Playfords Road and one of his family members owns one of only two stores in the main street, the other business being the pub,” he said.
“Mayor Playford should have made mention of his interest and history with the town before voting on the budget that approved the spending of funds to seal the road.”
Noosa Today asked Noosa Council if the mayor needed to declare a conflict of interest, but council declined to comment.
According to the Local Government Act 2009 (section 173), a conflict of interest exists between a “councillor’s personal interests and the public interest” and must be declared when the conflict “might lead to a decision that is contrary to the public interest” and a conflict can be real or perceived.
The Act (section 172) also states a councillor has a “material personal interest” in a matter before council if a councillor, spouse of councillor, parent, child, sibling of the councillor or partner of the councillor stands to gain a benefit, or suffer a loss, “depending on the outcome of the consideration of the matter at the meeting”.